Rain Moves Easter Egg Hunt Inside College Hill Moravian Church

Nine-year-old Shawn Sterner had no trouble finding his share of brightly colored Easter eggs that had been hidden in the basement of College Hill Moravian Church in Bethlehem yesterday.

"Oh geez, this is easy," he said plucking a pink plastic one from beneath a lamp shade. "I got my three."

Because of the rain, the egg hunt was held inside the church and children searched underneath couches, chairs and tables for the plastic treasures.

Beside the hunt, the church's annual Easter Egg-Stravaganza featured a puppet show about the meaning of Easter, crafts and egg coloring. And for the first year, the church collected canned goods for the West Bethlehem Food Bank at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on 2nd Avenue between Broad and Market streets.

"We thought it would be nice to give them some support," Sue Young, director of educational ministries at the church, said of the collection effort.

The food bank, started last year by the Greater Bethlehem Council of Churches, serves about 150 people, about half of which are children, said Bob Hintz, a volunteer. The food bank is open on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon and on the last Wednesday of the month from 6 to 8 p.m.

As of yesterday afternoon, however, only a few people had donated food.

"It was the first year we mentioned it," Young said. "Some said, `Oh I forgot, I'll drop it off tomorrow.'"

Pastor Carol Dague said the church holds food drives at other times of the year, as well. "We thought why restrict it to Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving," she said.

Throughout the day, children decorated Styrofoam eggs with glass beads, wove Easter baskets with crepe paper and made crosses from sugar cubes.

"This place is going to have cockroaches," said 8-year-old James Greenwald as he glued two sugar cubes together.

Five-year-old Crystal Rehm of Bethlehem got some help making a felt chick from her grandmother's friend Karen Jones.

Jones patiently glued feathers to the back of the peep to resemble wings while Crystal looked on approvingly.